Boat-neck sweater



Dec. 13, 1966 N. H. GOODMAN 3,290,694

BOAT-NECK SWEATER Filed June 29, 1964 um H1 mm M M +3 INVENTOR i Norman H. Goodman United States, Patent 3,290,694 BOAT-NECK SWEATER Norman H. Goodman, New York, N.Y., assignor to Vanmark Research Corporation, Greensboro, N.C., a corporation of North Carolina Filed June 29, 1964, Ser. No. 378,527 3 Claims. (Cl. 290) The present invention relates to sweaters such as children wear, and is particularly concerned with sweaters made of knitted fabric which is shaped by full fashioning on a fiat-bed full-fashioned type of machine to provide a boat-neck style of garment.

Childrens sweaters of this sort have long been known. As in the manufacture of the more elaborate and costly sweaters worn by young and old, it has been customary to form boat-neck sweaters on a full-fashioned knitting machine which produces a series of what are known as blanks. Each blank begins with the formation of a welt strip of quite a number of courses. The stitches which form the leading edgeof the welt are held by the teeth (needles) of a comb which is eventually shifted bodily backwards to the bank of needles in the knitting head, thus doubling the welt strip back upon itself. Here the stitches of the first course of the blank are individually knitted into the stitches of a subsequent course of the fabric, thus forming a turned welt.

It has uniformly been the custom to shape sweaters in such a way that the turned welt constitutes the bottom of the garment. The neck is usually formed of a separately knit collar, which is sewn to the garment around a neck opening provided to receive it.

This general pattern of construction is so satisfactory for most purposes that it has become practically an invariable standard.

The present invention differs primarily in this, namely that the turned welt is not rib-knit, as usual, but rather is jersey-knit, and is used to form the neck portion of the garment instead of the hip portion of it. This inversion of the standard procedure has several advantages,

particularly where play sweaters for young children are concerned.

In the first place, the garment itself has very simple and appealing lines, and the neck area is entirely free of any seams which might chafe the skin. Furthermore, producing the sweater in this way aifords a very clean and eflicient techniquefor creating a smooth top and neck structure with little difiiculty. The operational steps required are easily carried out. No pieces need to be added or sewn in later, so that one handling is enough. All that need be done is to sew the front and back panels together.

The turned welt is not only cleaner and smoother: it also may be somewhat stronger than would be the case if one sought to provide the same smoothness by using a blind-stitched hem. When the neck opening is bound by a seamed hem, it is dilficult to blind-stitch it firmly enough to withstand wear and repeated stretching during the putting on and taking off of the garment. Consequently, seam stitching which extends entirely through the fabric is sometimes used. This reduces stretchability and forms a conspicuous line across the face of the garment which detracts from its appearance. In sweaters of the present invention, no stitching at all is present in the neck area, and the juncture line of the turned Welt affords no more than a subtle suggestion of ornamentation.

The use of the turned welt at the neck of the sweater thus enhances the ornamental effect. Curiously enough, the use of a seamed hem, blind-stitched to the bottom of the sweater does not impair the style.

In order that the objects and advantages of the invention may be more fully understood, reference may be had Patented Dec. 13, 1966 ice to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate a preferred embodiment, and in which:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of a sweater, turned inside out in order to show seams and construction more fully.

FIG. 2 is a vertical section, taken on the line 22 of FIG. 1, illustrating in conventionalized form, the structure of a turned welt.

FIG. 3 is a vertical section, taken on the line 33 of FIG. 1, illustrating the structure of a blind-stitched hem.

The illustrations of FIGS. 2 and 3 are on a greatly enlarged scale.

Turning now to FIG. 1, the substantially rectangular back panel 10 of a sweater 11 embodying the invention is illustrated. The front panel is of precisely the same configuration, and is therefore not separately illustrated. The upper portion of the panel 10 comprises the turned welt 12, the first course of which is knitted into the body of the panel along the welt line 13. The panels are configured to provide arm openings 14, 14, at the sides, and these are preferably bound with a rib-knit binding strip 15 which is rolled and hemmed to the panels along the stitch-line 16.

The upper edges 17 of the turned welts on the front and back panels are stitched together along the stitchline 18, which extends inwardly from the arm opening towards the neck for a short distance only on each side of the garment. This portion of the sweater is shaped to fit the slope of the shoulder by sloping the stitch-line 18 and folding the fabric under, the small flap of goods so produced being caught in the arm binding seam 16.

Side seams 19, 19 unite the front and back panels from the arm openings to the bottom of the garment.

The bottom of the sweater is preferably finished by turning the fabric back to form a hem 20 and blind-stitching the hem along its upper edge to the panel proper, along the stitch-line 21. Alternatively, a separately formed ribbed bottom can be topped on if desired.

A comparison of FIGS. 2 and 3 shows the difference between the turned welt 12 and the hem 20. In the former, the loops of the first course of knitting 22 are knitted with the loops of a later formed course, as the loops of the latter course are formed, so that the turned welt is in effect a continuation of the body of the fabric, as seen at 12a, when viewed from either face. In the hemmed area, 20, the panel 23 is folded back upon itself as at 24, and the turned-under edge 25 seamed to the fabric 23 by blind stitches 26 which loop over the edge 25, and pass entirely through the inside fold 27 of the hem, but do not do more than catch the knitted loops of the panel 23.

Since turned welts and hemmed bindings are well known, they have been sketched only diagrammatically in the accompanying drawing. The sketch is suificient to show, however, that when a hem, such as 20, or flat seam, such as 19, is formed, it is necessarily bulky and rough, since only thus can ravelling or running of the knitted fabric be prevented.

It will be appreciated that the sweater shown in the drawing has been turned inside out, in order to show the seams more clearly. The double knitting line where the turned welt joins the panel fabric will appear, from the face of the fabric, as a series of fine points, not at all conspicuous, and the blind stitching which binds the lower hem will be almost equally unobstrusive. The finished garment will thus have a very attractive appearance when worn, and will be more comfort-able to wear than sweaters of the same style but having inwardly presented seams in the neck area.

Physical details of construction have not been discussed, since they may vary within wide limits. Current production employs -denier, 2-ply textured or stretch nylon yarn. The entire garment is preferably jersey-knit, ex-

cept for the arm-hole binding strips, which are of 1 x 1 rib-knit construct-ion.

Although the boat-neck sweater of the present invention may have some appeal as an item of casual wear for older people, because of its comfort and easy-fitting properties, it is in the field of use as a play garment for small children that its'advantages are most apparent. For that reason it has been described in that frame of reference. It is, obviously, inexpensive to make, costing no more than other sweaters of the same style. Yet it is more comfortable to wear, just a little better looking, and possibly a shade more durable than like garments presently available.

I claim:

1. A boat-neck sweater of full-fashioned knit construction, of the type having counterpart substantially rectangular front and back panels configured to provide arm openings at their sides, and united by flat-stitched side seams extended from the lower portion of each arm opening to the bottom of the panels, said sweater body being characterized in that the entire width of the upper portion of each panel comprises a knit turned welt, a flat seam securing the upper portions of said welts together, said fiat seam sloping from the arm openings on each side upwardly for a short distance only towards the center of the garment, the upper portions of the turned welts free of seams defining a neck opening and a neck area.

2. The sweater defined in claim 1 wherein there is provided an inturned hem along the lower portions of the front and back panels, and blind stitch means secure said inwardly turned hem at the inner side of the sweater body.

3. A sweater as defined in claim 1 wherein there is provided a knitted binding strip, a stitch line securing said binding strip to the edges of the arm openings, the excess material remaining below the sloping flat seam line joining the turned welts being caught and held by the stitch-line which secures said binding strip to the edges of the arm openings.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 360,094 3/1887 Holmes 2-90 X 2,157,482 5/ 1939 Crossingham 290 2,685,691 8/1954 Artz 2109 X 2,919,567 1/1960 Loeper 66-173 JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner.

A. R. GUEST, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A BOAT-NECK SWEATER OF FULL-FASHIONED KNIT CONSTRUCTION, OF THE TYPE HAVING COUNTERPART SUBSTANTIALLY RECTANGULAR FRONT AND BACK PANELS CONFIGURED TO PROVIDE ARM OPENINGS AT THEIR SIDES, AND UNITED BY FLAT-STITCHED SIDE SEAMS EXTENDED FROM THE LOWER PORTION OF EACH ARM OPENING TO THE BOTTOM OF THE PANELS, SAID SWEATER BODY BEING CHARACTERIZED IN THAT THE ENTIRE WIDTH OF THE UPPER PORTION OF EACH PANEL COMPRISES A KNIT TURNED WELT, A FLAT SEAM SECURING THE UPPER PORTIONS OF SAID WELTS TOGETHER, SAID FLAT SEAM SLOPING FROM THE ARM OPENINGS ON EACH SIDE UPWARDLY FOR A SHORT DISTANCE ONLY TOWARDS THE CENTER OF THE GARMENT, THE UPPER PORTIONS OF A TURNED WELTS FREE OF SEAMS DEFINING A NECK OPENING AND A NECK AREA. 